when she would have left the Seaton High School.  There were many occupations open to girls nowadays besides teaching; they could be doctors, secretaries, sanitary inspectors, artists, musicians, poultry farmers.  She knew however, that for any career worth taking up a considerable training would be necessary, and a certain amount of expense involved.  What she would have liked very much would be to study at a Physical Training College, and qualify to become a Drill and Games Mistress, but this seemed as unattainable as taking a medical course or going to Girton or Newnham.

“I’m too young yet for a hospital nurse,” she pondered, “and not clever enough to be an artist or a musician.  Well, I suppose I can make munitions, or go on the land!  Women are wanted on farms while the war lasts.  I could earn my own living, perhaps.  But oh, dear!  That wouldn’t be boosting on the children!  I’m afraid mother’s fearfully disappointed with me.”

She seemed to be looking at things in a new light, and to see her position as it affected others.  She was young and brave; surely it was her part to shoulder the family burdens, to shield the frail little mother who grew less and less able to cope with difficulties, to hold out a strong helping hand to the younger brothers and sisters, and so justify her existence on this planet.  It had not before occurred to her how much her home people relied on her.  The thought of it brought a great lump into her throat.  She must not fail them.  She could not yet see her way clearly, but somehow she must be a comfort and a support to them, that she was quite resolved.

She went back to school in a very thoughtful frame of mind.  Her last term would be a full one in many ways.  About half of the Sixth Form were to go in for their college entrance examinations, and Miss Bishop had decreed that Winona, as a County Scholarship holder, must certainly be among the number.  She had little hope of passing, for most of her subjects were weak, but she meant to make an effort to try to pick up some of her lost ground.  Her old enemies, Latin and Chemistry, still often baffled her, and her memory was only moderately retentive.  She could not honestly believe that so far as her work was concerned she was any credit to the school.  Games were another matter, however, and so long as they did not seriously interfere with her preparation for the matriculation, she meant to do her duty as captain.  She arranged cricket fixtures and tennis tournaments, and though she could not devote as much of her own time as she would have liked to practice, she spurred on others who had more leisure than herself.  She certainly possessed a gift for organization.  There are some captains, splendid players themselves, who can never train their deputies.  As Napoleon’s genius was supposed to lie largely in his capacity for picking out able generals, so Winona proved her ability by choosing helpers who were of real service to her.  With Audrey Redfern, Emily Cooper, and Bertha March to the fore, she hoped that both cricket and tennis would prosper, and that the school would score as successfully during the summer as it had done in the hockey season.